Pitch and equipment ( grassroots)

[Darren83]

Had a game earlier and cos of over night frost the home manager asked if I would inspect the pitch so I agreed to meet at 8.30 for a 9.45 KO.

Pitch was overall fine however there was a 5ydX5yd patch on the touch line around 15 yrs from the corner what was really boggy and had standing water. Anyways I felt thst given how little of the game was going to be played in that area I passed it fit to play.

In 2nd half the corner flag snapped in half so I asked them to just remove it for safety reasons and played on.

Home side won 2-0 , away teams manager wanted the game postponing last night so wasn't best pleased they were playing ( they had no goalie) . End of the game after a good even game the manager was angry that I allowed the game to be played with that area ( ball went there once), that I removed the corner flag which is part of the field of play and that a player was wearing a hat.

My attitude wasn't and isn't oh well it's youth who cares. My attitude is the pitch was playable and that there's 25-30 lads who want a game, remove the flag so nobody injures themselves and it 2c.

What would you guys have done. Cheers

 

[JH]

Pitch - you need to consider if that patch is dangerous and if it will become farcical (unlikely with a small patch but possibly dangerous?)

Corner flag - "Referees are expected to use common sense and to apply the ‘spirit of the game’ when applying the Laws of the Game, especially when making decisions relating to whether a match takes place and/or continues. This is especially true for the lower levels of football where it may not always be possible for the Law to be strictly applied. For example, unless there are safety issues, the referee should allow a game to start/continue if:
• one or more corner flags is missing"

Hat - I'm not sure if law explicitly means regular 'hats' when they say 'head covers' - maybe someone can let us know. Law states:
"Where head covers (excluding goalkeepers’ caps) are worn, they must:
• be black or the same main colour as the shirt (provided that the players of the same team wear the same colour)
• be in keeping with the professional appearance of the player’s equipment
• not be attached to the shirt
• not be dangerous to the player wearing it or any other player (e.g. opening/closing mechanism around neck)
• not have any part(s) extending out from the surface (protruding elements)"

 

[Ben448844]

YHTBT. But if you dont believe it to be unsafe and you don't believe the game will become farcical then play it. Sounds like the manager was just venting after the game because he was frustrated that the game was on. You made your decision, move on.

I had an interesting one this morning. 4g pitch, recently 're-laid. I turn up and it's white over due to overnight frost. Both teams are warming up and the touchlines have been swept. I ran on it and watched the warm ups and despite being white over it was safe, surprisingly unslippy (3 month old surface). Touchlines have had the frost swept off (never seen that before in 25 years in the game. Not a single issue all game and 5 mins in the surface has completely defrosted. It's one of them where I almost called it off but it was obviously the right decision to play. Home team won 3-1 and have a 100% record. Away team mid table and played really well and were in the game until the last 5 mins. Cracking game, handshakes all round and both teams walk off together. Glad I played it, cracking game of football. 0 cards